Ordover To Launch New SF Imprint For Phobos

Former Simon and Schuster editor John Ordover, who oversaw the Pocket Books Star Trek novels for many years, is launching a science fiction imprint of Phobos Books that will feature several Star Trek novelists.

The new imprint, Phobos Impact, aims to "put the fun back in science fiction and fantasy," Ordover told Sci Fi Wire. "Enough with the angst-ridden, self-consciously deep, overly meaningful works of 'literature' already. I got into science fiction and fantasy because they were...idealistic and upbeat."

Ordover, a onetime Deep Space Nine screenwriter, plans books that will include retro-SF romance set early this century, galactic space opera and an alternate-reality North America with dragons, just to begin with. He told the Trek Nation that he hoped the imprint would "capture the same elements of idealism and hope for the future that Star Trek has always stood for."

The first releases are scheduled for this month. They include All Eve's Hallows by Star Trek author and Strange New Worlds judge Dean Wesley Smith, plus Dragon America by Hugo and Nebula winner Mike Resnick. Later releases will include The Genesis Protocol by Dayton Ward and Phobos Rising by L.A. Graf, each of whom has written Star Trek fiction.

"We see ourselves as creators and creative collaborators, rather than just publishers," explained Ordover. "We develop the initial concepts for the novels and approach a carefully selected author who is as enthusiastic about the project as we are, then polish the concept in tandem with the author."